Eight dead, at least 25 wounded in holiday weekend gun violence

Eight people were killed and at least 25 other people were wounded in shootings across the city since Friday night.

The most recent fatal shooting happened about 8 p.m. Monday in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.
Officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 5700 block of South Princeton Avenue. There they found 27-year-old Fredrick Brown after he had been shot multiple times in an alley, authorities said. Brown, of the 6300 block of South King Drive, was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County where died at 8:30 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Several hours earlier a 16-year-old boy was shot to death in the Roseland neighborhood.

Maurice Knowles and another man were at the boy’s house in the 10500 block of South LaSalle Street when shots were fired about 5:30 p.m., authorities said.

The teen was shot in the chest and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 7:22 p.m. authorities said. A bullet grazed the other man who was with Knowles at the time. The man, believed to be in his 20s, declined medical attention and refused to cooperate with investigators, police said.

Earlier Monday afternoon, 21-year-old Jerome Wood was fatally shot in the South Side Woodlawn neighborhood, less than half an hour before another man was wounded by gunfire about half a mile away.

Wood, of the 5200 block of South Wood Street, was shot in the head about 2:10 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene, in the 6600 block of South Rhodes Avenue, at 2:27 p.m., authorities said.

The burst of Labor Day violence in the Woodlawn neighborhood left residents rattled.

“I was in the house asleep when I heard gunshots. It was a lot of them, like maybe 14,” said Keyshia Wilson, 25, who has lived on the block where the man was killed for eight years.

“I came out and walked over and saw the man laying in the yard with a hole in his head, and blood coming out of everywhere,” she said Sunday afternoon. “I can’t believe this happened a couple of doors down. I’m still in shock. I can’t believe it.”

David Westin, 33, who just moved to the block three months ago, lives directly across from the home where the man was killed.

“My family was inside just trying to enjoy our Labor Day when we heard the gunfire,” Westin said. “I told the kids to duck down on the floor. And a half hour later, I came out and saw the police. I just moved here and I’m about to move again. It’s scary. Thank goodness there were no kids playing outside. I don’t even think I want to let my kids go out anymore.”

After that killing, a man was shot twice in the abdomen about 2:35 p.m. in the 6300 block of South King Drive, police said. His age was not immediately known. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, police said.

Employees at a McDonald’s at 6355 S. King Drive said an altercation between a group of young men began inside the restaurant, eventually spilling outside, before the man was shot.

“This happens quite a bit around here. You don’t feel safe, and it feels like it isn’t going to get any better,” said a bystander, India Spears, 24, of Parkway Gardens, a low-income housing development across the street.

Both shootings were down the street from the New Beginnings Church, 6620 S. King Dr. Pastor Corey Brooks was just leaving his church when shooting broke out.

“I was riding home, and police cars just started coming from everywhere going to 66th and Rhodes. I followed, and that’s when I witnessed what was going on,” Brooks said. “When I got there, I was like, ‘I know all these kids,’ so I got out and I walked from 66th and Rhodes back to Parkway Gardens with them. And as we’re walking and talking, somebody else got shot over here, a second one. Not a good day.”

About 11:30 p.m. Sunday, John Wallace, 25, was killed in the Englewood neighborhood. He was shot in the back during an argument about 11:30 p.m. in the 6400 block of South Morgan, authorities said.

Ramaine Hill, 22, died Sunday night, a day after he was shot in the Old Town neighborhood. He was in the 1200 block of North Orleans Street about 1:20 p.m. Saturday when an armed man shot him in the head and fled east on foot, authorities said. Hill, of the 700 block of West Blackhawk Street, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died at 10:08 p.m. Sunday, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Carl Pate, 56, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in the 12200 block of South Aberdeen Street at 7:41 a.m. Sunday in his West Pullman neighborhood home on the Far South Side. Pate had been shot in the abdomen at 4:40 a.m. last Monday at his home, police said. Both shootings were thought to be related to narcotics.

About 2:45 a.m. Saturday, gunfire killed a 21-year-old man and wounded two others at a party in a Bridgeport apartment on the South Side, police said. Vidal Martinez, 20, of the 1300 block of South 58th Street in Cicero, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and two counts of aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm in connection with the Bridgeport shootings, police said.

Daniel Ortiz, 21, of Monee, was shot in the chest and died at the scene, authorities said. A 22-year-old man was shot in the head and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition, police said. The third man, who is 25, was found with a gunshot wound to the leg in a vehicle that crashed in the 4300 block of South Wentworth a short time later, police said. He was treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and released.

On Saturday morning, John Atkins, 33, was shot multiple times and died in the Morgan Park neighborhood, police said. Atkins was found at 11:19 a.m. in a gangway at the rear of a building in the 11700 block of South Hale, police said.

In addition to those wounded and killed, at least 21 additional people have been injured in shootings since Friday night.

In the most recent nonfatal shooting a 20-year-old man was critically wounded in the Albany Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

The man was in the 4700 block of North Central Park Avenue when he was shot once in the side about 2 a.m., police said. The man was in critical condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, police said.

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